Concepts of Quality in Higher Education

Abstract

Concerns about the quality of higher education are currently monopolising the national policy agenda. The notion of quality is being viewed in a variety of ways, but two main approaches may be discerned. One approach uses “quality” to focus rather narrowly on performance, control and simple outcome measures. The other involves a broader, more comprehensive approach that accommodates more adequately the rich complexity and intangibility of higher education's processes and outcomes. This paper explores the views embodied in recent statements by higher education stakeholders about quality in higher education, employing as a framework two basic approaches to quality which have been termed the “production‐measurement” and the “stakeholder‐judgement” views.